Paramount’s Jim Gianopulos exit reflects rapid change and rapidly rising fortune of Brian Robbins – deadline

In November 2018, Paramount Pictures boss Jim Gianopulos revealed a major new initiative for then-parent Viacom: a multi-picture deal with Netflix. “Our priority is to expand our role as a major global content provider,” said Gianopulos.

Priorities have changed.

Gianopulos is now heading for releases, and a rising star in the executive ranks of ViacomCBS, Brian Robbins, is expected to add studio oversight to his growing portfolio. No one at the studio has commented publicly yet, but that decision is expected to become official in the coming days. Established in July as CEO of Nickelodeon with global oversight, Robbins also this year took on more responsibilities at Paramount +, the rebranding and expansion of CBS All Access which went live last March. It was the third major promotion for Robbins at ViacomCBS in several months.

He continues the consolidation underway after the merger into the senior executive ranks of ViacomCBS under the leadership of CEO Bob Bakish, which has seen Robbins, Chris McCarthy and George Cheeks constantly expand their responsibilities. They say the trio get along well and work well together.

The impending release of Gianopulos brings back the question of a potential merger of ViacomCBS’s two main scripted TV studios, CBS TV Studios and Paramount TV Studios, first raised when the Viacom-CBS merger was announced. The two studios remained separate after the merger, with Gianopulos seen as the main protector of Paramount TV Studios.

The recent expansion of the responsibilities of Paramount TV Studios president Nicole Clemens to oversee scripted content at Paramount + could facilitate the Paramount TV-CBS Studios merger logistically. However, according to sources, such a move is not in the cards, at least for the time being.

ViacomCBS has several production divisions that also include MTV Entertainment Studios, Nickelodeon Studios and BET Studios, and Paramount TV Studios has recently started to differentiate itself by focusing on series based on titles from the Paramount Cinematheque, which could provide a way forward. so that the outfit remains autonomous.

News reports on Friday morning revealed a move that blinded people within the company, but as far as the executives it favors, the reshuffle is less of a surprise. Robbins came to the business of AwesomenessTV, a digital company known for producing low-cost, high-impact hits like To all the boys I’ve loved before, which became a teen franchise for Netflix. Instead of licensing these projects, according to insiders, the plan will be to direct a growing number of them to the company’s own streaming service, Paramount +.

“This change is not due to Jim’s performance,” said a person familiar with the thinking of senior management. “He has done an outstanding job at Paramount and is widely respected within the company. It’s just a reflection of how the business has changed dramatically and the need to position the business differently.

Gianopulos, who long served as a senior executive at Fox before moving to Paramount in 2017, made a significant turnaround at the 109-year-old studio. In the year of his arrival, he recorded an operating loss of $ 445 million. “It’s about as dark as it gets, especially for a large studio,” Gianopulos said later, after putting Paramount back in the dark. “These numbers should never exist.”

As profitability returned, however, the mission became more complicated, certainly once Covid-19 turned everything upside down. Along with the pandemic, media companies – and tech titans like Apple – have all branched out into direct-to-consumer streaming. As a so-called “arms dealer”, ViacomCBS has thrived in a changing environment. Paramount has sold shows like 13 reasons why to Netflix and Jack Ryan by Tom Clancy at Amazon Prime Video. Hindered by movie theater closures, the studio has also shipped large properties like Coming 2 America and Without remorse at Amazon, and several others at Netflix.

The constant stream of licensing provided welcome revenue for the company, which brought together Viacom and CBS (whose shares are controlled by Shari Redstone, now president of ViacomCBS) in December 2019. Although executives maintain they are showing signs of discipline when making licensing decisions, these activities have created embarrassing circumstances in the age of streaming. The Godfather the trilogy – the Ultimate Paramount Trophy – is on NBCUniversal’s Peacock and part of Local Product South Park is on HBO Max. The financial motive was obvious, but Wall Street often wondered why the company wasn’t more inclined to use its reputable IP list to power Paramount +.

ViacomCBS launched its new branding and expansion of CBS All Access about six months ago, about six months ago, with a marketing blitz in full swing. An ad during last February’s CBS Super Bowl broadcast featured a galaxy of green screens of company talent, including Stephen Colbert, Gayle King and Dora the Explorer, climbing Paramount Mountain. The new offering promised “news, live sports and a mountain of entertainment.” In the second quarter, which ended on June 30, the company added 6.5 million worldwide streaming subscribers to exceed 42 million. While Paramount + is a big part of that number, Showtime’s OTT service as well as BET + and Noggin are also contributors.

Overall streaming revenue nearly doubled in the second quarter, reaching $ 983 million, the company reported. Charting a course in subscription streaming has presented a daunting task, however, with the company’s subscriber forecasts significantly lower than those of Disney or WarnerMedia. These two companies are widely regarded as the most legitimate long-term challengers of Netflix, which continues to dominate the field with 209 million subscribers worldwide.

ViacomCBS spoke about the global potential of Paramount +, which has spread across Latin America and other territories. Last month, however, the company announced a joint venture with Comcast, SkyShowtime, as a vehicle to reach Europe instead of trying to go it alone. The joint venture follows months of speculation over a possible merger between the two companies – a move potentially difficult to pull off in the current regulatory environment given the companies’ broadcasting stakes. Bringing together Viacom and CBS – a process that took years – has long been seen as the first in a multi-step process to achieve true scale. Especially with a booming M&A market like Amazon’s pending purchase of MGM and Discovery’s combination with WarnerMedia, the need for scale continues at ViacomCBS.

The film’s revenues represent approximately 10% of the total of ViacomCBS. In the second quarter, it rose 3% to $ 667 million, with the highlight clearly being A Quiet Place, Part II. More recently, however, the picture has become a bit more blurry for Paramount. With the Delta variant now increasing loads of Covid cases, the studio decided to delay Top Gun again, to 2022, and also postpone the next Impossible mission Payment.

Robbins, whose former team, Awesomeness, was acquired by Viacom, was fortunate to stay with the acquiring company and thrived. According to a well-placed source, he impressed Bakish and Redstone with his insight into shepherd’s material with unbalanced DNA and the mobilization of corporate resources. “As the nature of running a studio has completely changed, it has the combination of instincts and skills that have inspired confidence.”